Rummaging around in the chest freezer I found two deer shoulders that my wife's friend gave to us to make Osso Bucco. Keep in mind, this is mostly just the scapula with about two inches of the leg bone in place from where they sawed off and discarded each limb. Bless her heart, but my wife's friend isn't the brightest bulb.
Historically, I have alway fallen into the mindset that shoulders were meant to be deboned and ground. That is until a few months when I saw one of Steven Rinella's videos on slow cooking a deer shoulder in a crock pot. Remembering that video, we decided to give it a shot.
We seasoned the shoulder with salt, pepper and some other simple spices then browned it on all sides in a skillet. From there, we added it to the crockpot with enough simmering stock to almost cover the shoulder.
Once fall apart tender, we served with rice and brussel sprouts. I had NO idea any cut of whitetail could be so tender and succulent! It completely blew my mind. We have done so many hind roasts in the crockpot over the years that we have grown bored with them. They regularly came out tender but would often dry out. That was absolutely not the case with this shoulder. This experience completely changed how I look at venison shoulders now.
No pics but had to share with the group.
